Roughly 300 students who applied to John Hopkins University received emails suggesting they had been admitted to the school, when they had actually been turned down, ABC News reported on Wednesday.
On Sunday, the school quickly apologized for the error and sent another note to students, telling them that the "welcome" email was wrong and the school's previous decision to reject still stands.
"That was far worse than the original denial," Chuck Stephenson, whose 17-year-old son Sam was among the 294 students who received the error message, told ABC News. "We all realize how difficult Johns Hopkins and some of the other premier schools are to get into, so the initial one wasn't a shocker. Everyone had gotten over that. But the second one was tough to swallow."
Cathy Stephenson, a parent from Virginia, said she was furious that her son was accidentally sent an admission letter after an earlier denial. The subject line stated "Embrace the YES!" and the body of the email welcomed her freshman child. She said the university should apologize personally over the phone, according to the Berkshire Eagle.
The early decision acceptance letters were announced on Dec. 12, and the mistaken welcome messages came two days later due to "a human error at a vendor working for our undergraduate admissions office," said Dennis O'Shea of the school's media relations department.
